YSR Reddy would have never allowed Telangana: Vijayamma

"He was against TRS. He never promised Telangana. But for the pressure from the high command, he was confident of contesting alone ..," she told .

NEW DELHI: YSR Congress chief Vijayamma said there was no question of creation of Telangana if her husband and former CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was alive, accusing the Congress leadership of forcing him to ally with Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2004.

"He was against TRS. He never promised Telangana. But for the pressure from the high command, he was confident of contesting alone and winning the state in the 2004 elections," she told TOI. "If YSR was around, TRS would have disappeared by now," she added.

Congress and TRS tied up in 2004, sweeping the Lok Sabha and assembly polls. While YSR turned against Telangana later on, he did campaign on the statehood plank in the 2009 elections.

The bid to project the YSR legacy as unambiguously anti-Telangana stems from the desire to tap the sentiment in Seemandhra region. While YSR's son Jaganmohan is on a fast in Hyderabad against the division of Andhra Pradesh, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu on a fast in the national capital.

Congress has accused YSR Congress and TDP of opportunism, saying they had supported Telangana in letters to the Union home minister.

Contesting the Congress claim, Vijayamma said, "We only told the home minister that the Centre should take a decision by respecting the sentiments of all regions."

Saying that YSR Congress was for "united AP", Vijayamma mocked Chandrababu Naidu's fast, saying he should spell out the reason for his agitation since he gave an unambiguous letter of support for Telangana. "Naidu is unable to reply what is his fast about," she said, laughing, "He must be fasting to expedite the division of Andhra Pradesh."

Vijayamma rubbished TDP's allegation of a "fixed match" — that Congress and YSR Congress had a tacit understanding to polarize the state in a way that they sweep the proposed Telangana and Seemandhra states respectively.

"Congress knows that Jagan would sweep the polls in united AP. They have decided on Telangana to limit his influence to one region," the YSR Congress chief said.

Instead, she said Naidu entered into a deal with Congress and voted in favour of the Kiran Reddy government because he was scared that Jagan would sweep the polls if assembly was dissolved midway.

Vijayamma said the Centre was playing a dangerous game by thinking of imposing President's rule in the state to implement the T-decision. "Congress would be digging its grave. You cannot impose central rule and divide a state. Is it democracy or dictatorship?" she said.

She is in the capital to lobby political parties against statehood and met CPM leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury and DMK MP Kanimozhi on Tuesday.